Marvel Day at Sea Cruise 2024

My husband and I were on the first MDAS this year (Jan 7-12) and we personally didn't care about the marvel things so we didn't actively pay attention to them, but we did spend a good chunk of the morning on the promenade deck (port side if that matters) and saw a LOT of the characters come hang out to chat with people and take pictures. It was really fun watching the unplanned/random interactions. I also ran into both Thor and Loki waiting to be discovered by the bathrooms on deck four. So be sure to keep your eyes peeled for random encounters!
Thank you! I’m only marvel neutral but we are doing this specifically for my son who wanted the MDAS sailing. Love the idea of being able to sit in a lounger on the promenade deck with a book while my kids keep an eye out for heroes.

Do you remember about what time it was? Morning means 6-9 for some people and 9-12 for others. 🤣
 
Thank you! I’m only marvel neutral but we are doing this specifically for my son who wanted the MDAS sailing. Love the idea of being able to sit in a lounger on the promenade deck with a book while my kids keep an eye out for heroes.

Do you remember about what time it was? Morning means 6-9 for some people and 9-12 for others. 🤣
Last year the first marvel meets started at 8am and then went on til like 3. I remember a lot of the strolls being really around that very early morning time and right after noon. Later in the afternoon the marvel characters are replaced by the regular characters in marvzl attire but i didnt see them walking around, saw them only with lines
 
Last year the first marvel meets started at 8am and then went on til like 3. I remember a lot of the strolls being really around that very early morning time and right after noon. Later in the afternoon the marvel characters are replaced by the regular characters in marvzl attire but i didnt see them walking around, saw them only with lines
So you’re saying strolls are around 8AM or even earlier than that?

We’re on west coast time and I was hoping not to have to wake before 9AM most days. 😭
 
We just got back last night at midnight. I'm hoping to write up something more substantive in a few days, but I'm exhausted. My mom injured her knee in Cozumel and then our direct flight was cancelled, so we ended up with a 3hr layover and connection in Houston.

Overall, I felt like everything was a crush. There were lines everywhere for everything. I didn't even feel like it was that crowded at Halloween on the Fantasy. We did enjoy the few things we attended (Asgard photographs, Dr. Strange Academy). Lots of accidents in the pool, vomit in the Aquaduck. It was interesting. Trying not to be too negative while I'm still in the post-sail crash, but it was not my favorite cruise. 2 Highlights: Castaway had fantastic weather and Franko was an awesome server.
Was your cruise sold out? It looks like this January 26th cruise has had incentive after incentive to sell rooms so I imagine it’s not quite at capacity. On the flip side, the weather looks like it’s gonna be absolute crap for both our days at Cozumel and Castaway Cay. This will be our first cruise and if it doesn’t go well, I’m imagining my husband will make sure it’s our last lol
 


Was your cruise sold out? It looks like this January 26th cruise has had incentive after incentive to sell rooms so I imagine it’s not quite at capacity. On the flip side, the weather looks like it’s gonna be absolute crap for both our days at Cozumel and Castaway Cay. This will be our first cruise and if it doesn’t go well, I’m imagining my husband will make sure it’s our last lol
I assumed all of the repeated waves of promotions mean that it will be sold out.

What makes you think the weather will be awful in Castaway Cay? Most of next week looks pretty nice (if windy) to me.
 
Was your cruise sold out? It looks like this January 26th cruise has had incentive after incentive to sell rooms so I imagine it’s not quite at capacity. On the flip side, the weather looks like it’s gonna be absolute crap for both our days at Cozumel and Castaway Cay. This will be our first cruise and if it doesn’t go well, I’m imagining my husband will make sure it’s our last lol
Other people I talked to said it was sold out. And based on experience (I've been on the Fantasy in mid-summer (twice) and in October), it felt totally full during the height of the day. The one thing we didn't have (which has happened on the Fantasy) was roaming hordes of tweens.
 
Thank you! I’m only marvel neutral but we are doing this specifically for my son who wanted the MDAS sailing. Love the idea of being able to sit in a lounger on the promenade deck with a book while my kids keep an eye out for heroes.

Do you remember about what time it was? Morning means 6-9 for some people and 9-12 for others. 🤣
I'm sorry for the late response!

It was definitely between breakfast and lunch time. We went to Royal Palace for breakfast, sat out on the promenade deck reading and then went right back to Royal Palace for lunch 😅
 


Thanks for all the info! We are on the March sailing so any and all information is appreciated. Our booking window opens soon for the meet and greets. I see them on the MDAS day and the other day at sea. I know it will be difficult to sign up but can you sign up for both days if it had availability? From what I am reading here there may just be one character at each (for instance, Groot or Star Lord at Guardians) so if you were able to sign up for both days meet & greets would that increase the chance you would get both characters? Haven't done a MDAS sailing before so it is all new to us. Thank you in advance!
 
Thanks for all the info! We are on the March sailing so any and all information is appreciated. Our booking window opens soon for the meet and greets. I see them on the MDAS day and the other day at sea. I know it will be difficult to sign up but can you sign up for both days if it had availability? From what I am reading here there may just be one character at each (for instance, Groot or Star Lord at Guardians) so if you were able to sign up for both days meet & greets would that increase the chance you would get both characters? Haven't done a MDAS sailing before so it is all new to us. Thank you in advance!
We haven’t sailed but we did do our 30 day window. You want to be online exactly at midnight ET. You can only do each encounter 1 time. I believe we are doing Guardians on MDAS, HQ on Cozumel, and Asgard on final sea day, but I absolutely could have that backwards.

The only thing you might be able to do is split your party (if there’s more than one of you and it only makes sense if some members of your party care more than others) — I wish we could have but now don’t have the chance to edit it without risking losing everything (since it’s been sold out for weeks). But in theory if you assign 2 family members Asgard at 9AM and 2 at 11, there’s some chance that you get different characters each time.
 
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When we met Star Lord, there was a group sitting and waiting for it to change over to Groot, and the CMs seemed to be ok with that. YMMV, though.
Whoa thanks for the tip. Do you have any idea how often it changes?

Our family situation is complicated. I think some prefer Star Lord and others Groot…my daughter was hoping for Gamora. Is she around anywhere?
 
On beforehand you can only book one but during the cruise last year they opened additional windows onboard and of you ve had your reservation you could make a new one so to have better chances on getting a second one try to get a reservation early into the sailing (same system applied for pixar day btw)
 
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On beforehand you can only book one but during the cruise last year they opened additional windows onboard and of you ve had your reservation you could make a new one so to have better chances on getting a second one try to get a reservation early into the sailing (same system applied for pixar day btw)
Just to make sure I understand this correctly. If you have one reservation for say Asgard for all members of your party, when you get on board you will see additional slots available for Asgard available so you could theoretically book an additional one?
 
Yes if you ve used your first one
So after you’ve done a meet and greet you want to keep checking back for additional M&G of the same kind? Honestly, I don’t want to take spots from other people who didn’t get them in advance, but it sounds like this wouldn’t even be a possibility for us until after everybody else has a crack at it onboard anyway.
 
People might cancel. I have one booked that I know I'm going to but another that I'm up in the air about. I will cancel it officially if I don't think we're going to do it day of.
 
So after you’ve done a meet and greet you want to keep checking back for additional M&G of the same kind? Honestly, I don’t want to take spots from other people who didn’t get them in advance, but it sounds like this wouldn’t even be a possibility for us until after everybody else has a crack at it onboard anyway.
Exactly and yes since you have to have your first one used, everyone who wanted one had plenty of opportunity first. Also kzzp checking cause sometimes they add slots if demand is high enough throughout the cruise
 
Do you have any tips as to where we should stand for the “Heroes Unite” deck party (upper deck/lower deck? Close to stage?) and how early we need to be there so our kids don’t get stuck behind someone tall?

Similar question for the USO show if it matters (I assume it’s normal theater seating?).

Is Loki not part of the reserved Asgard meet and greet? I would love to hear other characters that were offered so I can get my kids excited. I’m assuming Rocket is not there due to the logistical difficulties or bringing a raccoon or raccoon size human on the ship. 😋

We can live without too much merch—easier on the pocket and the suitcase, though I would love a pin.
We were on the January 7th MDAS and we loved it!!! I didn't want to miss the USO show which is held in Evolutions in the late afternoon...i think around 6:00 -pm. We went to Evolutions early to get a seat but when the current game show ended they asked everyone to leave the lounge as they had to set up. They let us wait on the ramp into Evolutions and they opened the doors about 10 mins early of show posted time. We had seats right upfront and it was great. The singers were awesome as well as the back up dancers (all from the main stage cast). Captain America makes an appearance at the end. I remember I loved the show from when we saw it on the Magic back in 2017 and didn't want to miss it. It was pretty full. Seating in Evolutions has a lot of line of site obstructions so get there early to get a good seat down by the stage.

We booked the cruise the week book before sailing on a whim. Our cruise had about 3800 guests onboard but I didn't find it any more crowded than other pretty full cruises. Face it...people are cruising again!! The Heros Unite show was really good. We stood on Deck 12 in front of the Aquaduck facing the stage and had a great view. If you have kids they want to be upfront by the stage on Deck 11 as there is a lot of character interaction down there that I saw. Get there about 30 minutes early.

So many Marvel characters around the ship. We did not go to any of the meet and greets you had to sign up for as we booked so late but I just jumped on a line to see a character when it hit me.

My husband is not a Marvel fan or really a movie fan at all and he had a good time. I like Marvel but when I saw Groot onboard I was like a little kid!! Yes, there will be lines for characters but get there early. On the last night all the characters were spread around the atrium on Deck 3 & 4 with no handlers and the lines were not that long...not sure if that was posted in the app or not.

We did not have great weather on our cruise. Our 2 days in FLL pre cruise were chilly/rainy and we opted to stay onboard on Grand Cayman day (our best weather day). Castaway was about 60 degrees but no sun and it was windy so chilly but we stayed until about 2 and then headed back to the ship. It then started to pour so I was glad we went back when we did.

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MJ
 
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We were on the January 7th MDAS and we loved it!!! I didn't want to miss the USO show which is held in Evolutions in the late afternoon...i think around 6:00 -pm. We went to Evolutions early to get a seat but when the current game show ended they asked everyone to leave the lounge as they had to set up. They let us wait on the ramp into Evolutions and they opened the doors about 10 mins early of show posted time. We had seats right upfront and it was great. The singers were awesome as well as the back up dancers (all from the main stage cast). Captain America makes an appearance at the end. I remember I loved the show from when we saw it on the Magic back in 2017 and didn't want to miss it. It was pretty full. Seating in Evolutions has a lot of line of site obstructions so get there early to get a good seat down by the stage.

We booked the cruise the week book before sailing on a whim. Our cruise had about 3800 guests onboard but I didn't find it any more crowded than other pretty full cruises. Face it...people are cruising again!! The Heros Unite show was really good. We stood on Deck 12 in front of the Aquaduck facing the stage and had a great view. If you have kids they want to be upfront by the stage on Deck 11 as there is a lot of character interaction down there that I saw. Get there about 30 minutes early.

So many Marvel characters around the ship. We did not go to any of the meet and greets you had to sign up for as we booked so late but I just jumped on a line to see a character when it hit me.

My husband is not a Marvel fan or really a movie fan at all and he had a good time. I like Marvel but when I saw Groot onboard I was like a little kid!! Yes, there will be lines for characters but get there early. On the last night all the characters were spread around the atrium on Deck 3 & 4 with no handlers and the lines were not that long...not sure if that was posted in the app or not.

We did not have great weather on our cruise. Our 2 days in FLL pre cruise were chilly/rainy and we opted to stay onboard on Grand Cayman day (our best weather day). Castaway was about 60 degrees but no sun and it was windy so chilly but we stayed until about 2 and then headed back to the ship. It then started to pour so I was glad we went back when we did.

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MJ
Thank you! A lot of great advice (and pictures) here. In the bottom picture the heroes unite party? Are the people on Deck 11 all sitting? We have a family member who can’t stand for long so it’s hard to get places early enough to stake out a spot and stand through the show, but I think we can sit during the show it might work.
 
We were on the January 7th MDAS and we loved it!!! I didn't want to miss the USO show which is held in Evolutions in the late afternoon...i think around 6:00 -pm. We went to Evolutions early to get a seat but when the current game show ended they asked everyone to leave the lounge as they had to set up. They let us wait on the ramp into Evolutions and they opened the doors about 10 mins early of show posted time. We had seats right upfront and it was great. The singers were awesome as well as the back up dancers (all from the main stage cast). Captain America makes an appearance at the end. I remember I loved the show from when we saw it on the Magic back in 2017 and didn't want to miss it. It was pretty full. Seating in Evolutions has a lot of line of site obstructions so get there early to get a good seat down by the stage.

We booked the cruise the week book before sailing on a whim. Our cruise had about 3800 guests onboard but I didn't find it any more crowded than other pretty full cruises. Face it...people are cruising again!! The Heros Unite show was really good. We stood on Deck 12 in front of the Aquaduck facing the stage and had a great view. If you have kids they want to be upfront by the stage on Deck 11 as there is a lot of character interaction down there that I saw. Get there about 30 minutes early.

So many Marvel characters around the ship. We did not go to any of the meet and greets you had to sign up for as we booked so late but I just jumped on a line to see a character when it hit me.

My husband is not a Marvel fan or really a movie fan at all and he had a good time. I like Marvel but when I saw Groot onboard I was like a little kid!! Yes, there will be lines for characters but get there early. On the last night all the characters were spread around the atrium on Deck 3 & 4 with no handlers and the lines were not that long...not sure if that was posted in the app or not.

We did not have great weather on our cruise. Our 2 days in FLL pre cruise were chilly/rainy and we opted to stay onboard on Grand Cayman day (our best weather day). Castaway was about 60 degrees but no sun and it was windy so chilly but we stayed until about 2 and then headed back to the ship. It then started to pour so I was glad we went back when we did.

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MJ
Thank you so much for sharing. These pics are fantastic!
 

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